Obama Gets Teary-Eyed While Thanking Campaign Staff

U.S. President Barack Obama was overcome by emotion as he thanked his campaign staff at their Chicago headquarters a day after he won the second term. A video shows the President wiping away tears during the speech.

"I first moved to Chicago at the age of 25 and I had this vague inkling of how to make a difference, but I didn't really know how to do it," Obama told his staffers.

He said he knew that he wanted to make sure that his life attached itself “to helping kids get a great education or helping people living in poverty to get decent jobs and be able to work and have dignity. And to make sure that people didn't have to go to the emergency room to get health care."

"The work that I did in those communities changed me much more than I changed those communities because it taught me the hopes and aspirations and the grit and resilience of ordinary people," he said in the video that was captured by his staffers and uploaded on the Internet.

"And it taught me the fact that under the surface differences, we all have common hopes and we all have common dreams. And it taught me something about how I handle disappointment and what it meant to work hard on a common endeavor, and I grew up."

“When I come here and I look at all of you, what comes to mind is not that you guys actually remind me of myself. It’s the fact that you are so much better than I was in so many ways — you're smarter, you're better organized, you're more effective,” the president, who normally appears stoic and composed, said in a choking voice.

"What you guys have accomplished will go on in the annals of history and they will read about it and they'll marvel about it," he said. “Wherever you guys end up, in whatever states, in whatever capacities, whether you're in the private sector or the not-for-profit, or some of you decide to go into the public service... you're just going to do great things!”

As the President's voice cracked, with tears starting to roll down his cheeks, David Axelrod, his senior strategist, was heard saying “Barack, calm down.”

“I'm really proud of all of you,” the president said gathering himself and wiping away the tears.

“Your journey is just beginning. You're just starting and whatever good we do over the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come. That's been my source of hope,” he said as the room burst into applause.